Ames Progressive

Sitting in my boy J-Ro’s basement the other night following San Antonio’s Game Seven win in New Orleans, I lost that heated passion from rooting for the Hornets in the waning moments of the series’ finale. J-Ro spoke of his disappointment concerning an upstart New Orleans team that many favored to axe the defending champs with a spirited game in front of an always lively Crescent City crowd.

From poor shot selection, to inept bench play, to missed box outs and, most befuddling of all, a subpar outing from their two stars, the Hornets failed to play a typical energized Game Seven. The Spurs subsequently didn’t need a momentous game from any of the stars as with the Hornets bricking their way to the offseason, the Spurs played a relatively mistake-free game in which timely three-pointers supplied the offensive firepower.

So, there will be no battle to claim the true MVP with CP3 and Kobe settling the dispute in the Western Conference Finals. Plenty of praise for a New Orleans team that failed to qualify for the postseason last season as they handled a Western behemoth in Dallas before coming up slightly short in slaying the NBA’s best team over the past five seasons. As much as I and my boy J-Ro loathe the Spurs and yearned for CP3 to go And 1 on Tony Parker during crucial moments the other night, there remains no question that just as the Eastern Conference Finals features the two best teams with limitless subplots and a chronicled rivalry, the Lakers-Spurs matchup guarantees a captivating series that leaves little question as to who is the best in the west.

This is Anakin against Obi Wan, the Hulk against Wolverine, France against England, a level of competition not seen in the NBA since these two teams met on a yearly basis in May and June back when Shaq ruled Hollywood. The last of these vintage showdowns included possibly the greatest ending to a basketball game played anywhere at anytime. A game I missed as I celebrated the last weeks of a storied college career but a game with highlights prone to numb.

With the series tied at two games, the host San Antonio Spurs appeared to take a 3-2 lead and maintain home-court as Tim Duncan hit a shot that at first glance appears a work of cinematic ingenuity. Duncan hoisted up a shot from the free throw line with the shot clock expiring and the massive Shaq gasping all over the Big Fundamental. The attempt itself was a wonder as Duncan’s body fell left, but challenging the incontrovertible and reliable laws of physics he threw a low, line-drive at the rim with his arms going right, across his body. A shot, that maybe not as graceful but just as improbable, that stands next to Dr. J’s famous highlight of him floating behind the backboard as he lays in a basket with his arms seemingly detached from his body.

Now maybe missing out on the original airing of that Game Five prevents me from truly understanding how Duncan made that shot, but live action or not, every one knows how Derek Fisher hit his. With .4 seconds left, just enough time to catch and shoot without any sight of hesitation, Fisher flung up a shot from the elbow after a perfect inbounds pass and swished the game winner then in glorified defiance, raced off the visitor’s court and through the tunnel – without any question my favorite reaction to a huge play ever.

Like Carlton Fisk’s waving of his home run in Game Six of the ’75 series, which gained personal, relevant infamy after Matt Damon and Ben Affleck incorporated the shot into Good Will Hunting, the famed clip did not equate into a title as just as the Red Sox dropped Game Seven to the World Series, the Lakers dropped four-of-five to the Pistons in the Finals. But if this series that begins tonight in Los Angeles can recapture and reignite the dynamics from those heated series then I say let us see the infantile Duncan, pompous Popovich, fiendish Ginobli and French matron Tony Parker disappear with a bang of propulsive dramatics worthy of classic status.

J-Ro might have been dejected from New Orleans’ failure but San Antonio’s win gives me reason to root for a team in this round as I derive almost as much pleasure from going against the Spurs as I do watching in favor of the Knicks, who incidentally locked up the sixth spot in this year’s draft – an improvement from the last two seasons in which they gave away their lottery selection but not what this optimist prayed for as the rights to Derek Rose belong to his hometown of Chicago.

Allow me to kick the backstory to the curb and address the matchup for the supreme team of the NBA Universe knowing neither should lose to an inferior Eastern Conference squad.

For the Spurs to win: They need to take this series on the defensive side and the perfect example on what style to implement leads us to the Hornets’ approach to Duncan. Byron Scott instituted an aggressive double-team to Duncan all series but went away form the practice in Game Seven. The Spurs lost three games in the past round due to a suggested lack of athleticism but I don’t see that to a severe degree. Phil Jackson pointed out how experienced and old do not represent synonyms. The Spurs still display speed and they will need to swarm Kobe and Gasol and force an above average role player in Lamar Odom to defeat them. Odom elevated his game after the Gasol trade because he shies away from the second option to Kobe. In the tradition of pedigreed champions, the Spurs follow a simple strategy that says to minimize the damage from your opponent’s heavy hitters and force them to beat you as an entire unit.

For the Lakers to win: As much as I discredit the Spurs’ recent run because of the absence of a defining series victory and a failure to win it all during even years, I marvel at their sharp passing that begins with Duncan in the post and ends with crisp around-the-horn perimeter swinging. Since the Gasol trade, however, the Lakers can boast the title as the best passing team in the league as the Spaniard thrives off of Jackson’s schematic Triangle Offense and the bench now receives admonishment from Kobe rather than scorn due mainly to sound familiarity. Everyone wearing purple and gold feels comfortable wheeling and dealing the rock.

I’ll be surprised if anyone actually finishes this article because I say fuck words for the moment and enjoy. I could give a shit about the disappointing Yankees and the comedic antics of the Knicks. Lock me up that Odom jersey, reserve me a seat next to Jack and add in some T & A courtesy of the Laker Cheerleaders and I’ll be as content as Josh Howard on 420.

Prediction: Seven Games – you know who.